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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

B is for Berlin + for Butterflies

during April, i am joining the A-Z Blogging Challenge - each day, i will revisit the archive of published works from a new alphabetical angle, and repost an image and a text. more about the plan: A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, April 2013Today is: B. which took me back to "Berlin past present" - and to a Butterfly Show a poet wrote for me.

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Butterfly Showfor Dorothee Lang, written by Molly GaudryThese transparent paper butterflies are so beautiful I wantto walk the few blocks west to the art supply store in order to purchase several handmade sheets of paper, all blue -- shiny, royal blue, baby-blanket blue, tissue-paper blue, turquoiseand periwinkle blue -- and cut, with tiny gold scissors, somebutterflies of my own. I will buy a length of thin gold ribbon,the kind with the wire edge, and make a day-long braid of it; I will drop dots of hot glue to the underbellies of my butterfliesand press them gently against each strand of the braid and letit dry by drifting in the wind, then wind it around the bars of our gone baby's crib. I will do all of this because it is March, because soon it will be April, and then Mother's Day and therest of the summer that reminds me of when I was pregnant.One of the worst things I ever saw was at the Conservatoryduring the butterfly show; children everywhere, the way they reached to touch and roughly stroke or crush the butterfliesafter luring them with their fingers and noses, which had beenbrushed with sugar water. So many crumpled bodies all over that botanical wonderland; so many smeared streaks beneaththose children's sneakers. But it wasn't this that bothered meas much as the image of one small, blue butterfly, high in the air,her desperate wings beating against the crack in the domed glass.

***Butterfly Symbolism
This is interesting: while visiting other A-to-Z blogs, i came across 2 other B-posts with butterflies included, which lead to some notes on butterflies and their symbolism in the comments. I don't know much about their symbolism in other cultures, though, and now did a web search, here are some takes from different cultures:

Generally: "cultural myth honor the butterfly as a symbol of transformation because of its impressive process of metamorphosis."

in ancient Greece: "The ancient Greek word for "butterfly" is ψυχή (psȳchē), which primarily means "soul" or "mind"

and a similar image in Japan: "In Japan, a butterfly was seen as the personification of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead."

in China: "the Mandarin Chinese word for butterfly is "hu-tieh". "Tieh" means "70 years", therefore butterflies have become a symbol for a long life"

The Butterfly Show - is special. I thought I lost those lines, they aren't online any more, and it was while looking for A-stories and adding links to my archive list, that i found them again, copied in an archive file. The poem, it started with a blog note: "For $1.00, I will write you a poem and post it here", poet Molly Gaudry wrote in a self-created poetry challenge. She also asked for a couple of keywords. We only knew each other fleetingly. The poem still touches me.

Thanks! And so true about butterflies. They sometimes seem to be close to fairies, fragile and beautiful. I don't know much about their symbolism in other cultures, though.. i started to copy that into this comment, yet it's so interesting that i now moved it up so that it is part of the post.

amazing blog, I didn't know that much about butterflies and I totally agree with the way children are with butterflies, it drives me crazy!! check me out at http://nevercryoverspilledmilk.com Please if you have a chance! kelly